Swansboro wins Coastal v-ball tournament

Wednesday

Oct 16, 2013 at 12:01 AM

SWANSBORO – Swansboro didn’t get the rematch with Jacksonville it wanted – West Craven made sure of that by upsetting the top-seeded Cardinals.

But the Pirates were more than willing to settle for a bigger prize than a shot at revenge: The Coastal 3-A Conference volleyball tournament title in their first year in the league – and the league’s No. 1 playoff seed.

Rick Scoppe-The Daily News/Sports Editor

SWANSBORO – Swansboro didn’t get the rematch with Jacksonville it wanted – West Craven made sure of that by upsetting the top-seeded Cardinals.

But the Pirates were more than willing to settle for a bigger prize than a shot at revenge: The Coastal 3-A Conference volleyball tournament title in their first year in the league – and the league’s No. 1 playoff seed.

All of which Swansboro earned Tuesday by sweeping West Carteret in the semifinals 25-14, 25-22 and West Craven in the championship match 25-23, 25-15, 25-16.

All four teams will make the NCHSAA 3-A playoffs. The pairings will be announced Thursday.

“Obviously after losing to Jacksonville (last week) we were all really, really bummed about that,” senior setter Bailey Rabidou said. “So we really wanted to play Jacksonville. We had a little pep in our step so we could be first seed and play at home for most of the playoffs.”

Rabidou, who had 23 assists, nine digs and 3 kills in the title match, said the key for the Pirates not letting down when they found out they would not be squaring off against JHS was “staying focused and talking.”

“Sometimes we lack on our communication and talking,” she said. “But I think today we kept our communication up.”

While the Pirates had little problems dispatching fourth-seeded West Carteret (10-7), which was without one of its top players who was playing soccer, Swansboro found itself down early against the third-seeded Eagles (11-9), which stunned JHS 25-12,, 23-25, 25-22 to advance to the finals.

In the first set, West Craven led 11-5 early and Swansboro didn’t take its first lead until 17-16 on a net violation. But the scrappy Eagles refused to wilt, and actually led 19-18 and were tied at 21 before the Pirates finally took the lead for good on a kill by Ashley Oriol.

Swansboro was clinging to a 24-23 lead after a block by the Eagles before clinching the set when West Craven couldn’t return the ball.

After that, Swansboro trailed only once – at 1-0 in the third set. The Pirates led by as many as 10 in the second set at 15-5 on a kill by Kasey Sines and again at 22-12 on an ace by Kylie Cleve before a clinching kill by Megan Malone.

Swansboro’s biggest lead in the third set was nine, coming at 21-12 on an ace by Emma Kitzmiller and again on the final point after a net ball by the Eagles.

“We came out here and hustled and we busted our butts,” coach Kim Miller said. “And I thought we played a little bit smarter than what we have been playing. We played within ourselves. They’re a scrappy team. So that took away from us constantly trying to go up and slam the ball. And we had to start thinking, and we were able to find some holes in their defense to attack.”

And Miller was more than satisfied with her team’s performance – and thrilled at winning the tournament title.

“All the conferences in which we played throughout all the years they’ve never had a conference tournament,” she said. “So it was a neat little prize for us. And we wanted to be on a roll going into the state playoffs.”

And the Pirates are, said Miller, who liked that the Pirates didn’t have a letdown but continued to fight when West Carteret or West Craven went on a run.

“That’s the key right now,” she said. “We’re aggressive and we’re hard-charging forward instead of waiting for the other team to not hit so hard or to not be so aggressive.”

West Craven 2, Jacksonville 1

The Cardinals had had their problems with West Craven in two regular-season matches, but each time managed to beat the Eagles. But round three went to West Craven.

“You can only play so many close games before it doesn’t go your way,” JHS coach Melinda Rakes said. “Unfortunately the two-out-of-three (format) does not favor us. We tend to get going late in the match. I kind of thought when we won the second set we kind of shifted some momentum.

“But all I can say, and what I told the girls, is now’s the time to lose. This doesn’t knock us out of the playoffs. If this was a playoff match, we’d be done.”

The loss – and West Craven’s loss in the finals – means the Cardinals (16-5) will be the league’s No. 2 playoff seed. JHS and Swansboro tied for the regular-season title at 11-1, but the Cardinals won a coin flip for the tournament’s top seed.

“Losing tends to humble a team,” Rakes said. “We kind of rode on this high over beating Swansboro last week and then pulling it out against White Oak. Maybe we humbled ourselves a little and understand that it’s not handed to us, we have to work for it.”